Entrepreneurs who are planning for their new eCommerce venture face the most common question of Magento Vs OpenCart. These startups need to get answers to the common question of which platform they should choose.
It’s evident that in eCommerce platforms, there is no rule of one-size-fits-all. In that case, the expertise of an ecommerce development company can do wonders in your startups.
Various methods, techniques, and tools prove to provide satisfying results. But, at last, the results depend on some basic editions which the company needs to take beforehand.
Like the size of the online store, design preferences, SEO and visibility, costing, hosting, extensions, user interface, and more.
Here we have tried to concentrate on two major competitors in the eCommerce market. That is Magento Vs OpenCart. According to Statista, Magento has a 7.91% market share, while OpenCart has a 2.17% market share.
Here we will explore their usage and features, options and analyze other features to help you decide which platform is the best for you.
Before we start the comparison, one needs to consider that there are various eCommerce solutions. Like WooCommece, Shopify, Zen Cart, Prestashop and several others.
Each of these eCommerce platforms can be a one-stop solution for a distinct set of needs. To make an appropriate choice for business, we will try to solve basic questions to help you understand the short-and long-term needs.
Things You Need to Keep in Mind Before Starting Your eCommerce Platform
- Which eCommerce development company is going to develop your platform, and what are their skills and capabilities?
- If you’re looking for long-term maintenance services, then who is going to provide those services?
- How to choose the right set of programmers or agencies for your eCommerce platform?
- The best techniques to modify the basic templates or speed of your eCommerce platform.
- Is there any support available online for preferred eCommerce platforms?
- To what extent is the community around in terms of extensions and solutions?
- Will you opt for a flexible custom solution or choose for the standardized settings?
- Apart from the basic usage and features, what additional features would be required to integrate into your online store?
- For OpenCart Vs Magento speed, Which platform will be suited best for features and online store?
- Will there be any familiar issues with the solution/platform?
- Are you targeting sales in your country or foreign countries?
- What are your SEO performance and social shareability tactics, and what are your top priority for your company?
- Are you targeting to run multiple stores?
- Which is your targeted eCommerce content strategy?
- Are you planning to integrate an eCommerce store with a WordPress blog?
- What would be the estimated cost for licensing, hosting, extensions, and many more, and will it suit your budget?
Similarities in Magento Vs OpenCart
Before comparing these platforms, let’s have a look at what’s similar in these platforms
- Both Magento and OpenCart platforms are open source and developed in PHP
- Both of these platforms offers several extensions and add-ons
- It provides easy access to add new products by using a templated approach
- These platforms enable customers to make recurring payments
- It supports various languages and currencies options
Differences in OpenCart Vs Magento
Magento is a wide eCommerce platform with various functions and tools. Both OpenCart and Magento are primarily designed for wide online stores.
OpenCart is a large platform, but it is not well equipped with various tools compared to Magento. For large and advanced companies, Magento is a better option than OpenCart.
Several high-end eCommerce websites are gaining popularity. The spotlight is now on upcoming Magento Development Trends. However, if you are a startup and create your base in the market, OpenCart is an appropriate option.
To get detailed insights about these platforms, let’s look into their comparison in detail. The comparison is divided into the following areas:
- User Interface
- Support
- Hosting Cost
- Security
☛ User Interface
Either you are a beginner or a skilled developer, you would require a user-friendly user interface for your online store. So let’s look deep into the UI and admin panel for both of the eCommerce platforms.
✍ Magento
If you think of exploring eCommerce platforms, then you must know that Magento is not an easy job. It is well equipped with various features and functionalities.
Following Magento is like a steep curve. Various store owners hire Magento developers to eliminate dealing with UI. Some of its key features are:
- One would require some level of technical expertise
- It provides with easy to navigate sidebar
- It is equipped with official documentation for users help and support
✍ OpenCart
OpenCart provides users with a simplified UI and is quite easy to set up and install. It is equipped with a simple-to-navigate sidebar on the admin panel.
Users have access to download extensions, add products easily, and change the design easily with the help of various tabs on the left side. Some of its key features are:
- It presents simplified statistical data
- Also has easy to navigate side panel
☛ Support
In case your website goes down at midnight, then would you require support? One would require both communities as well as official support, as both of them are essential aspects.
OpenCart and Magento have distinct approaches to provide customer support.
✍ Magento
Magento development companies do not consider support as a service. But over the years, the Magento eCommerce platform has built its massive community of developers who love sharing their thoughts online.
Magento Stack Exchange and Magento Expert are some well-known examples of trusted Magento forums. Users can also refer to their official knowledge base tutorials, guides, and FAQs to get better insights.
Examine the benefits of using Magento ecommerce development. Here are some key features:
- Users can apply for both free and paid support.
- It has built a massive community.
- Provides users with official documentation.
✍ OpenCart
OpenCart development company provides its users with a dedicated support system. But it may cost some extra dollars. The support packages of OpenCart start from $99 for a one-time fix and costs around $99 / month to hire a dedicated support team.
If you wish to opt for free support, one needs to depend upon forums and community. OpenCart does not seem to have a large and popular community. Some of its key features are:
- Offers OpenCart installations and configuration support.
- Providing dedicated support, community forums, and marketplace support is also available.
- Provides users with guaranteed response time.
- Trusted and certified experts are available for help.
☛ Hosting Cost
The eCommerce platform you will opt for will greatly impact how your online store will perform. You can not ignore the hosting service provider.
As the hosting service is likely to determine the speed and security of your online store. Several companies in the market offer to host both OpenCart and Magento. The cost involment is the only difference in their hosting.
✍ Magento
Magento is quite known for utilizing various resources. We would recommend you all avoid using shared hosting. Shared hosting is likely to impact your online store performance negatively.
Using managed Magento hosting can be the best option while considering better store performance. Here are some key features:
- It has complete control and flexibility
- It provides users wot separately buy a domain name
- Use can host their multiple online stores
- It can be a preferred option for growing and developed businesses
✍ OpenCart
Hosting cost is much cheaper in OpenCart in comparison to Magento. As it is a light platform, it uses quite a few resources.
Users can initiate using OpenCart with a free demo for their official site. And to opt for hosting, a hosting provider can cost around $11.95/month. Here are some key features:
- It provides users with complete control.
- That can work best for small businesses.
- It offers to buy a separate domain name.
☛ Security
Security is the primary concern for any online platform. For example, while utilizing an eCommerce platform, you need to secure the data of your customers who are applying to make online payments.
✍ Magento
Magento development company takes security quite seriously. It provides its users with security patches for any loop in your system.
Hence, as it is an open-source platform, one needs to add extensions and specific Magento security guidelines. Apart from these, you can also use WAF and SSL to protect your online store. Some of its key features are:
- It offers users various security extensions.
- It releases several security patches for its customers.
✍ OpenCart
As OpenCart is a basic and light platform, hence it is less exposed to a security violation. Thus the basic defense mechanism provided by your eCommerce platform is quite enough.
Despite the fact, various people declare that OpenCart’s extensions can be proved unsafe as these extensions are not monitored daily. Some of these features are:
- It offers users official documents for security patches.
- Security extensions are made available to its users.
- It is strongly patched with the central system.
Pricing And Cost: Magento Vs OpenCart
Rough estimate for Magento ranges between $22,000 – $50,000 p.a. Whereas OpenCart rough estimate ranges between $15,000 – $20,000 p.a. Magento hosting costs around $100-$1000 p.m.
OpenCart hosting costs around $12-$50 p.m. Theme and design costs range from $30-$500 and $20-$150 for Magento and OpenCart respectively.
With high and moderate developer costs, both OpenCart and Magento come equipped with paid solutions that look out for hosting and provide users with add-on features and functionalities.
Magento Commerce cost starts from $22,000 p.a and OpenCart cloud range starts from $25 p.m.
Conclusion
In the end, it comes down to the priorities and requirements for an eCommerce store owner. As you choose between Magento Vs OpenCart majorly means deciding between:
- Whether you require an eCommerce platform for your medium or large enterprise, or you want a platform for a small-scale store.
- To what extent are you ready to sacrifice customizability and store performance?
- What is your planned and designated budget?
- To what extent does SEO matter in your business?
If you want to experience integral growth and have huge plans from the start. The best option here is to start with Magento as there lies a big chance that one would migrate later on.
For better SEO performance, use the best Magento plugins for SEO. Moreover, Magento is a well-known, well-established eCommerce platform and boosts various top brands as clients.
And OpenCart still requires a lot to be determined in terms of supplying top-notch features and functionalities.
Still, some doubts force you to think? Then, consulting with a Top eCommerce development company can be the best solution. Thus schedule a call now.
